Ahmed said: “No.” Mr Bayliss asked: “Were you responsible for the death of your daughter?”

Have you ever caused any harm to your daughter Shafi lea

Tom Bayliss QC

Ahmed: “No. We were devastated to find out that she had left home in the first place.”

Shafi lea disappeared from the family home in Warrington, Cheshire, in September 2003.

Her body was found on a river bank in Cumbria the following February.

When asked how he felt about that discovery, Ahmed said in a strained voice:

“We couldn’t believe it when we heard.” Ahmed and his wife Farzana, 49, both deny murdering Shafi lea, the eldest of their five children.

But earlier this week the jury was told that his wife had dramatically changed her defence and claimed she witnessed her husband beating Shafi lea on the night of the alleged murder.

Yesterday Ahmed denied his wife’s new claim, while adding that he still “loves her to bits”.

He told the court he “totally agreed” with Shafi lea’s ambition to become a solicitor and denied that he disapproved of her friends and social life, saying “there would not be a problem” if she’d said she had boyfriends.

Mr Bayliss asked him what the murder accusations had done to the family.